Skip links

Header Right

Main navigation

Choosing a Sound Card

Choosing a Sound Card

Choosing a sound card or multimedia card can be difficult if you don’t know what your looking for. This guide will explain in detail how to identify your multimedia needs and then how to choose a sound card to coincide with those needs.

What’s your budget?

The first step in choosing a sound card is identifying how much you are willing to spend on your sound/multimedia card. There is no point identifying your needs and then not be willing to spend the money on it. The sound card is one of those extras that are not compulsory on a computer so if you would like to save money on your computer then the sound card is probably one of the computer components to do so. Once you know how much you are willing to spend on your sound card proceed to the next step where you will identify your needs.

What’s your needs?

The second step in choosing a sound card is working out your needs. Before you proceed it is a good idea to check whether your motherboard has a sound card built in. If so then you probably don’t need a sound card anyway. However, the sound ports on your motherboard might be broken or may not be have good enough quality for your wants. Once you know you need a sound card you need to work out what type of sound card. A good way of working out what sound card you need is to ask yourself what you need sound for.

Do you have a TV-card and need it to watch TV or movies or need a card to listen to music? Are you a gamer and need it to enhance your performance or a video-editor and need to edit sounds? Or are you just a common pc user who needs it for windows sounds or for other basic entertainment.

My Recommendation

When I choose a motherboard I usually choose one with a sound card built in anyway so I usually don’t need to buy a separate card. However, when I do choose a sound card I would usually buy a basic card. I don’t think the sound card is a component that hundreds of dollars should be spent on and I would probably spend from about $AU10-$50.

However, if you need 5-1 or 7-1 surround sound then a delicate sound card is not a bad choice. It really depends on your budget and how much you are willing to spend and your needs. It is also important to make sure that your computer can handle the sound card you buy.

Buying a Sound Card

So if you still need to buy a sound card, because your motherboard does not have one installed or you prefer to have another one then I would definetly recommend TigerDirect as the place to buy. Here you can find the Best Sound Cards Available Online and for an extremely competitive price.

Give Us Your Opinion on the Sound Card?

Have a question, comment or review on different Sound Cards? Let us know…

Your story will appear on a Web page exactly the way you enter it here. You can wrap a word in square brackets to make it appear bold. For example [my story] would show as my story on the Web page containing your story.

TIP: Since most people scan Web pages, include your best thoughts in your first paragraph.